Wow! An entire day where the whole country celebrates ME!
Personally I always knew I was special but mom tried to keep the lid on it so to speak, so I didn’t get a big head. But she can’t hide my greatness anymore…why, there’s a day just for ME!
Oh. Wait. They’re talking about real pennies? The kind you find in parking lots? The kind they don’t even make anymore?
What the heck people!
I say we start a letter writing campaign to get me nominated to be the official LUCKY PENNY.
Geeze.
Talk later,
Your Lucky Penny (officially named Simply Unstoppable Pretty Penny, but I know I’m lucky too)
A week ago I had the chance to go to Kensington, one of my favorite places in the world. It was a beautiful, sunny day.
You brought breakfast, right lady?
The birds weren’t crazy hungry and we weren’t overrun by little ones, but we had our fair share of visitors demanding a treat.
I’m not touching your hand, but I’ll clean up anything you drop.
My sister and I had been there before, a few years ago and she was used to having birds fly down to her hand, but it was still magical. It always is.
Excellent seed quality, lady!
Her friend had never been there before so this was a new experience. He figured out that he could toss a peanut up in the air and the red bellied woodpeckers and the blue jays would both fly out from the trees and catch that peanut in the air.
Toss that peanut, Mr!
They were successful grabbing the nut about 99% of the time.
I can get that peanut faster than you two!
He also got an up close and personal viewing of several sandhill cranes. We didn’t feed them, but they were hopeful and followed us around on the trail.
What you lookin at?
The heron rookery was full of expectant parents. Though I’m sure there are eggs or maybe even youngsters up in those big nests we couldn’t see any yet.
Everybody is waiting.
Ms. Swan built her nest very near the boardwalk this year. I’m sure every photographer has a great image of mom waiting patiently on her nest. By this week there could be babies and the usual paparazzi shooting baby pictures.
Big stretch while on the job.
I doubt I’ll get out there again soon, but I sure enjoyed my spring walk with family through such a beautiful place. I hope you enjoyed these images too.
Historically the orioles (bright orange migrating birds) come back to my feeder from their winters in South America about (and almost always ON) May 5th.
I would like to announce my arrival, lady!
This year people were reporting them returning to their yards in lower Michigan at the end of April. So I put my oriole feeder out then. And then I waited. Every day I thought “this will be the day.”
Have you filled my royal feeder with my royal jelly?
And suddenly it was. My first sighting was May 1st and I was very excited. He was extra hungry and between him and the house finches I started going through a lot of jelly. Of course I didn’t mind at all.
Wrong feeder
Today I figured out there are actually two males. And possibly two females now. Though today I saw a picture online by a bird photographer who does a lot of educating with her images. She said her photograph was probably a young male, perhaps last years youngster. She said they look like females but have more black on them, like a male.
Ahhhh…this is more like it.
So now I’m considering that the two ‘females’ I’ve had might just be last year baby boys. That would make sense, as the males always arrive first.
A female? Or a young male?I think young male.
Either way the four of them have been at the feeder all day, every day since at least the 5th. AND I also get hummingbirds the next day (the 6th) of May, and a rose breasted gross beak!
Ahem….what have you planned for MY dinner?
The hummers and the gross beak arrived a day late, but I was just as happy to see them.
I hope she has safflower seed for me. That’s my favorite.
I don’t have an image of the male hummingbird yet, he’s very skittish. But the gross beak has always been something of a photo hog. He’s not skittish at all, as long as you move slowly. And your dog doesn’t bark.
But hey, grape jelly might be better!
The same day that the gross beak and the hummer arrived I saw a catbird, also a migrating bird that isn’t here in the winter.
Hey! Don’t be so grumpy. It’s OK to share a little of your royal jelly.
And across the street in the pond was an egret. Though my pictures of that bird are just bad. I always have trouble with the bright white of egrets. I know I’ll have more opportunities so I’ll wait until I get a better image before I share.
Catbird, not an oriole.
BUT, I have to say that the 5th and 6th were very big bird days in and around my yard!
Red bellied woodpecker also likes grape jelly.
All the photos here were taken through a window, working through reflections and grime. But I didn’t care, I was just thrilled to see them all.
Every day is a new day. Each morning, as the sun comes up gently warming my room I wonder what the day will bring. Our little family, Penny, husband and I, are working together to get through each day while noticing the beautiful things as well as the daily trials.
The sun comes up on a new day.
Friday I somehow strained a sciatic nerve in my right leg. I was fine most of the day, running with the dog at the park, in and out of the car while running errands. I was fine until suddenly I wasn’t.
A great day at a local park.
At the drug store as I got out of the car I suddenly felt excruciating pain shoot up my leg. I stood still for a moment, hoping it would subside. It didn’t. I hobbled into the drug store, did my business and hobbled back to the car. At home I could barely get up the two front steps. Saturday I stayed in my recliner, napping and groaning.
Mom…are we going to nap all day?
The biggest problem we had to deal with was taking Penny out. Walking with her in the yard on uneven turf was so painful for me. And she’s been asking to go out a lot lately while not necessarily doing anything once we get outside.
I need to go out, mom. Now.
I took her out four times in the morning, each an agony for me, and she didn’t do anything but wander around sniffing. My husband tried taking her out, using his walker. It was his first time to take her for a walk since he was discharged from the hospital almost two weeks ago.
She didn’t do anything, though they shuffled down to the stop sign and back. We decided if she didn’t have to go she didn’t have to go. She had two parents and neither in any shape to take care of her.
It’s not my fault.
Later in the day Pen and I managed a short walk along the pond across the street. She still didn’t do anything, but I got a few pretty shots with my phone. And that made me smile.
A beautiful spring day.
Today I feel 80% better, and I know I’ll be able to take her out, maybe even for a real walk up the road. I hope she decides to do her jobs while we’re out there.
In bloom.
Getting old is not for the faint of heart. It’s hard, physically and mentally. It would be so easy to slide into the dark place we hold in the back of our minds. Focusing on getting through today and not thinking about tomorrow too much is my secret approach to today and every day going forward.
Everywhere you look, something is beautiful.
Getting through each day. That’s our plan. So far it’s working.
I haven’t felt photographically inspired for a long time. Except for my birds, mostly here at home, I haven’t felt like following my muse. It all just felt like too much work and my world right now is feeling pretty unsettled with no room for wandering around with a camera.
But yesterday a storm front sent clouds racing across the sky. I happened to be out running a short errand when I noticed the sky and for the first time in a long time I felt a spark.
Just a small spark, but for a moment I thought about turning around and grabbing the camera and heading out to look for interesting moments. Something lightened in my chest. And even though I knew I couldn’t take off exploring right then, I knew that someday I could. On the way home I stopped and grabbed a quick shot, using my phone, of our local nursery under the cloudy sky. It felt good.
And then this morning, at 6 a.m. I was walking in the front yard while Penny was looking for her perfect spot, when I noticed the half moon getting ready to set.
And I realized that there were 4 humans up there, closer to the moon than to earth. I watched the moon for awhile, feeling an excitement that I haven’t felt since we explored the moon decades ago when I was a kid.
I wasn’t so excited that I went and got my good camera and the tripod, that still seems like too much work, but I thought about it. My photography is gaining energy, and someday, maybe soon, I’ll be exploring with the camera again.
In the meantime the camera on the phone is pretty great, and the backyard isn’t bad either.
No, not my flight, though when I was young I did think I’d like to fly a plane, and when I was even younger I used to dream that I could fly like a bird.
This is the scene from the window and what I had to shoot around.
No, this morning I put some peanuts in the flat feeder, and that quickly brought in my merry band of noisy bluejays. I swear they sit up in the trees and wait for me to fill the feeders. They always arrive immediately and with great fanfare.
Trying to focus on the bird among the branches.
And while I was standing at the window, watching them come and go in the morning light, I realized I could try to capture their flight. They were much too busy hogging the peanuts to notice me.
He has 3 peanuts in his beak and more in his throat. But he’s not really in focus.
You need a very short shutter speed to stop those wings in mid-flight, at least 1/2000 per second. If there is sunlight that’s easier to accomplish.
Coming and going.
I took 84 images before the sun was hidden by the clouds of the latest incoming storm front. Out of that barely a handful are passable. But I learned a lot and some day I will try again.
My favorite image.
I’m sharing them with you now, because bluejays, no matter the fact they are obnoxious, are truly beautiful.
Change Is Hard 